By Barry Adams

They help create 9-foot waves, conduct land surveys and help cemeteries manage their plots. Ramaker & Associates, tucked into an industrial park behind the Culver's restaurant, is a diversified engineering firm that is one year into being employee owned.

With the waterpark industry in its infancy, the company, founded by Terry Ramaker, has positioned itself as one of the industry leaders in waterpark design. It has worked on some of the largest waterparks in the world, including the Wilderness and Kalahari in Lake Delton.

One of Ramaker's latest projects is part of a proposed $33 million indoor aquatic center in Downers Grove, Ill., that would feature a retractable roof, several pools, shops and restaurants. "It's a young industry, it's really only 15 to 16 years old, something like that, and yet it's come a long way," said Jamie Skowronski, Ramaker's president. Add in millions of baby boomers that will need a final resting place, and the future appears to look busy for the 16-year-old firm.

Q: How did the company get started with indoor waterparks?

A: We've been involved with them since the first indoor waterpark that was ever designed, which was right up here at the Polynesian (in Lake Delton), with Stan Anderson. He wanted to do a little something to help himself out on the (winter) season ... and that really was the birth of the first indoor water park. The Wilderness was right behind that with a little bit larger but still small indoor waterpark. Up in the Dells is the largest concentration of waterparks in the world and we've designed most of the major indoor waterparks that are up there. In some cases, we've done phase, after phase, after phase.

Q: How did your company figure out how to design an indoor waterpark?

A: We started out with really nothing to go by. A lot of the learning has been on the run and obviously we've had to refine our expertise and incorporate new professionals in different areas to be able to not only enhance the types of designs that are going on out there but to address things like energy efficiency, products, time frames and all the various things that go into it.

Q: What kind of growth do you see for the waterpark industry?

A: If you go clear down to (indoor parks) that are greater than 10,000 square feet, there are about 100 of them throughout the United States. Thirty percent of those are in Wisconsin, 15 percent are in Minnesota and 10 percent are in Michigan. So, there's an awful lot of states that don't have them. It's really in its infancy.

Q: From where does the inspiration come for waterpark projects?

A: The inspiration for every one of our projects comes from our clients. They could have seen, whatever, and said, You know, wouldn't that be cool?' Maybe it wasn't in a waterpark, but the application of it is not necessarily limited to where they saw it. A variety of different things can be incorporated into a waterpark given certain circumstances. Yes, we've got some very creative people here that are extremely knowledgeable of those kinds of products that are out there and available and (that) can be configured in a variety of different settings. But the true inspiration has to come from the owner. They're the ones with a goal in mind and have to create a business plan that works for them.

Q: Explain your cemetery management system?

A: All cemeteries started out with the information on a hand-drawn map and a 3-by-5 card that said "John Doe is buried here" and here's some information about that. So, they provide us with those 3-by-5 cards and the hand-drawn map. We digitize everything and we insert all of their information into the system. They end up with a map that can be clicked on and the information can be provided for genealogy purposes or for simply maintenance management of the cemetery. We've also gone beyond that and we incorporate an accounting software that goes with it for sales and inventory control of what they have available.

Q: Who uses this?

A: We've provided our cemetery information management system to everything from the very small cemeteries to federal cemeteries. We've provided it to a number of archdioceses in Los Angeles and Milwaukee and big cities like Santa Barbara (California). It's not only (due to the aging population) but because of the Internet. There's interest in genealogical connections and research. Cemeteries are faced with a large increase of interest in their data.

Q: Does the management system also provide a sense of security for the cemetery owners?

A: You could have a building burn down and you could lose all those 3-by-5 cards. We've established a users' group meeting. ... We'll have working models set up so everybody can be working on a computer and asking questions and providing us with ideas. It's the direction that a lot of cemeteries are going, but a lot of them don't even have staff. They're run by a bunch of volunteers.

Q: How did the employee stock ownership plan come about?

A: Terry (Ramaker) brought me on board about 6 years ago. He was looking for an avenue of continuing the company beyond his involvement, transitioning him out of the company and rewarding him for the success the company had achieved. I started looking into a variety of methodologies we could take by sifting through the various scenarios and costs associated with it and the viability of that happening. It came to the surface that the ESOP approach might be a very good approach. So we spent a lot of time researching and dealing with a lot of outside consultants of what we would have to do and what the effects would be. It was a win for Terry and it was a win for the employees.

Q: Have you noticed a difference since the company changed to being employee owned?

A: In certain areas, absolutely. It's surprising some of the comments that people will make about how some things have risen higher on their radar screen. There's a mindset of a sense of ownership. You become a little more observant about things you can do on an individual basis to help the company be more profitable.

JAMIE SKOWRONSKI

• President of Ramaker & Associates, Sauk City
• Type of business: Engineering services
• Employees: 60
• Annual revenue: $10 million
• Year founded: 1992
• Web site: www.ramaker.com
• Age: 60
• Family: Wife, Deborah, and two grown children
• Hometown: Near Rockford, Ill.

This artcile is reproduced with the kind permission of Barry Adams of the Wisconsin State Journal. 
Barry Adams. +1 608-252-6148  badams@madison.com